Erin Martin, with horse AJ Maximus, was not put off riding despite bursting her kidney in a fall.
Erin Martin, with horse AJ Maximus, was not put off riding despite bursting her kidney in a fall.
About 8000 Kiwis are injured by horses every year at a cost of about $10 million, figures show.
Figures released to the Herald by ACC showed 7873 people were injured by horses last year with claims totaling $9,669,964 so far.
An ACC spokesman said claim costs for a particular year were the costs accrued to date for any claims accepted that year which meant costs for earlier years would tend to be higher.
The largest number of injures in the last five years occurred in 2014 when there were 8789 horse-related injuries with claims totaling $14,408,704.
Most injuries were caused by people falling from horses. Last year 2852 people fell from a horse.
On July 31, 2015 she was riding one of her horses in Onewhero when it got spooked and threw her off.
The impact as she hit the ground knocked her unconscious and smashed one of her kidneys into three pieces.
But luck was on her side.
The owner of the property was out grading the driveway and realised something must be wrong when the horse wandered past without Erin.
He took the horse back up to the arena and found Erin half buried in sand. That's when he called the emergency services.
A helicopter was sent to pick her up while a doctor on another chopper was also dropped off to help.
Former Auckland Westpac Helicopter paramedic Bruce Kerr said horse-related injuries were fairly common. Photo/Supplied
Bruce Kerr, the paramedic on board the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter sent to the scene, said it was probably the worst horse-related injury he had seen in his 20 years on the job.
"You can tell people often have an internal injury because they look so pale. She looked really, really pale and was not talking," he said.
With a doctor present, Erin was able to be given blood on board the helicopter - a New Zealand first.
"I probably would have died if it wasn't for that," Erin said. "I had quite a few blood bags. Without that I probably just would have bled out."
Kerr agreed the blood transfusion "quite possibly" saved her life.
In hospital she was given an embolism to stop the bleeding and 10 days later she was sent home.
A month later she was back on her horse and this year she has a full calendar of showjumping competitions lined up.
Kerr, who has since retired, said the rescue helicopter was called to help someone injured by a horse about every two to four weeks.
Broken bones and head injuries were the most common but they could be quite serious because of the height of the horse, the speed they could travel and their strength.
The accidents usually happened in rural areas only accessible by four-wheel drive and because of that the helicopter was often required.
